Baguio Midland Courier Website

EDITORIAL

Baguio�s Moment of Truth

With the issuance of a Temporary Environment Protection Order (TEPO) by the Supreme Court, the City of Baguio has no recourse except to comply with the order to cease and desist from “making use of the Irisan dump site either as a temporary holding/staging area or as a dumping or controlled area or any and all kinds of solid waste.”

The stern rebuke comes in the form of a TEPO that is seen to have the same effect as the Writ of Kalikasan itself.

More than complying with the order, the city should also be prodded once and for all to re-think its solid waste management program in a manner that is sustainable, socially acceptable, environment-friendly, and financially viable.

The path it has chosen and has not swerved from since the garbage crisis of 2004 was notable as much for the issues it raised than the objective it sought to achieve. Shipping its largely unsegregated wastes to the lowlands not only proved costly, it also failed to account for its long-term effect on the environment. Likewise, it has in some way, given a signal for households to continue defying the city’s no segregation, no collection policy.

It also triggered questions on the real motives of the implementers of this city’s waste management program as well as raised doubts on their resolve to comply with the mandate spelled out by Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management law.

The wisdom behind the acquisition of the P128 million worth of environmental recycling system machines is also considered suspect in view of the city’s inability to implement its waste segregation policy at source. As a local official said, there is no such thing as an effective machine if waste segregation is not complied with.

We would like to believe that the issuance of the TEPO provides exactly the window of opportunity for residents and officials of this beautiful city to evolve the best practice possible in the management of its solid waste so as to make things finally right – not only for this generation but for the generations to come.